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In 2014, scientists found a giant 30,000 year old virus in Siberian permafrost. The virus, Pithovirus sibericum, was still infectious and began killing amoebas. This raised concerns that melting or drilling arctic ice could unearth previously undiscovered pathogenic viruses.

Science

Pithovirus Pithovirus, first described in a 2014 paper, is a genus of giant virus known from two species, Pithovirus sibericum, which infects amoebas and Pithovirus massiliensis. It is a double-stranded DNA virus, and is a member of the nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses clade. The 2014 discovery was made when a viable specimen was found in …

In 2014, scientists found a giant 30,000 year old virus in Siberian permafrost. The virus, Pithovirus sibericum, was still infectious and began killing amoebas. This raised concerns that melting or drilling arctic ice could unearth previously undiscovered pathogenic viruses. Read More »

Purple is a “non-spectral color”, which means that it exists only in our minds: there is no wavelength of light that corresponds to it. Our brain perceives purple when it sees a mixture of strong red and strong blue light, without any green.

Science

Color Perception The properties of color which are inherently distinguishable by the human eye are hue, saturation, and brightness. While we know that the spectral colors can be one-to-one correlated with light wavelength, the perception of light with multiple wavelengths is more complicated. It is found that many different combinations of light wavelengths can produce …

Purple is a “non-spectral color”, which means that it exists only in our minds: there is no wavelength of light that corresponds to it. Our brain perceives purple when it sees a mixture of strong red and strong blue light, without any green. Read More »

Helium can’t be artificially produced and is formed in natural gas wells as ancient uranium decays. The half-life of the most prevalent uranium isotope is billions of years old (older than Earth itself), so helium takes inordinate amounts of time to form.

Science

Scientists Found a Huge Reservoir of Much-Needed Helium The federal government stockpiles it. Scientists hoard it. Entire industries—and even lives—could end without it. In this case, the “it” in question is helium, a gas used in everything from particle accelerators to MRI machines. A dearth of helium has long been of grave concern to researchers. …

Helium can’t be artificially produced and is formed in natural gas wells as ancient uranium decays. The half-life of the most prevalent uranium isotope is billions of years old (older than Earth itself), so helium takes inordinate amounts of time to form. Read More »

Fish eggs can survive and hatch after passing through a duck, providing one explanation of how seemingly pristine, isolated bodies of water can become stocked with fish

Science

Fish Eggs Can Survive a Journey Through Both Ends of a Duck In lakes and pools that appear physically cut off from other bodies of water, fish sometimes seem to materialize out of nowhere. This somewhat mystical sounding theory might not be far off: a new study suggests fish eggs may simply fall from the …

Fish eggs can survive and hatch after passing through a duck, providing one explanation of how seemingly pristine, isolated bodies of water can become stocked with fish Read More »

Lighthouses had different techniques for rotating the light, most being too slow, making the light less visible. Augustin Fresnel proposed a mercury flotation system in 1825. Despite some lenses weighing over 6,000 lbs. the design reduced friction, increased rotation, and ultimately saved lives.

Science

Lens Rotation by Thomas Tag Introduction There are three major types of lenses used in lighthouse towers – fixed, flashing, and a combination of fixed and flashing. Flashing lights are the most effective and powerful. The first lens created by Augustin Fresnel was a flashing lens. The flashing lens rotates and has a number of …

Lighthouses had different techniques for rotating the light, most being too slow, making the light less visible. Augustin Fresnel proposed a mercury flotation system in 1825. Despite some lenses weighing over 6,000 lbs. the design reduced friction, increased rotation, and ultimately saved lives. Read More »

In 1964, three physicists who just got their PhDs were tasked with developing a working design for a nuclear weapon using only unclassified information. The goal is to see if a country can develop a nuclear weapon without aid. They accomplished it within 2 and a half years.

Science

Nth Country Experiment Could any country with the right knowledge and technology build a nuclear bomb? From May 1964 to April 1967, the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory (the predecessor to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) set out to answer this question. The Laboratory hired three physicists who only recently received …

In 1964, three physicists who just got their PhDs were tasked with developing a working design for a nuclear weapon using only unclassified information. The goal is to see if a country can develop a nuclear weapon without aid. They accomplished it within 2 and a half years. Read More »

The discoverer of neutron(James Chadwick) was a student of discoverer of proton(E.Rutherford) which in turn was a student of discoverer of electron(J.J. Thomson)

Science

James Chadwick For the bishop, see James Chadwick (bishop). For the American gynaecologist, see James Read Chadwick. Sir James Chadwick, CH, FRS (20 October 1891 – 24 July 1974) was a British physicist who was awarded the 1935 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the neutron in 1932. In 1941, he wrote the …

The discoverer of neutron(James Chadwick) was a student of discoverer of proton(E.Rutherford) which in turn was a student of discoverer of electron(J.J. Thomson) Read More »

Bikini Bottom was named for Bikini Atoll where the US conducted nuclear tests from 1946 – 1958, which is why all the explosions from SpongeBob look like nuclear explosions.

Science

SpongeBomb Square Pants and the Anniversary of Castle Bravo While SpongeBob doesn’t quite depict the horrors of nuclear testing, its inspiration does. SpongeBob’s home, Bikini Bottom, was named for Bikini Atoll where the U.S. conducted nuclear tests from 1946 to 1958. References to the destructive nuclear tests are littered throughout the show, ranging from a …

Bikini Bottom was named for Bikini Atoll where the US conducted nuclear tests from 1946 – 1958, which is why all the explosions from SpongeBob look like nuclear explosions. Read More »

The Earth’s rotation and speed changes with the weather and geological events. This means atomic time and solar time may not be identical. Sometimes leap seconds are needed for an adjustment. On 31 Dec 2016, a leap second was added, and the time 23:59:60 existed.

Science

Leap second Screenshot of the UTC clock from time.gov during the leap second on December 31, 2016. In the U.S., the leap second took place at 18:59:60 local time on the East Coast, at 15:59:60 local time on the West Coast, and at 13:59:60 local time in Hawaii. A leap second is a one-second adjustment …

The Earth’s rotation and speed changes with the weather and geological events. This means atomic time and solar time may not be identical. Sometimes leap seconds are needed for an adjustment. On 31 Dec 2016, a leap second was added, and the time 23:59:60 existed. Read More »

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